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Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
Summer League Notes, Episode 5: Leaving Las Vegas
By Jeff McDonald
LAS VEGAS -- The Spurs capped off their five-game stay in Vegas with a 76-75 loss to Memphis tonight, with the Grizzlies getting the game-winning points on a scoop shot from the Other Marcus Williams with 0.4 seconds left.
The story from the Spurs' angle was Ian Mahinmi. With DeJuan Blair sitting out the second game of the back-to-back, it was Mahinmi's job to tangle with Hasheem Thabeet, Memphis' 7-foot-3 rookie and the No. 2 overall pick in last month's draft.
Mahinmi won the matchup hands down. He scored 15 points, went to the line eight times, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots.
Thabeet, as he had for most of summer league, simply looked overmatched. He had nine points and five rebounds, which were actually better than his average numbers heading into the night.
Thabeet doesn't move well, doesn't seem to have much of a feel for Memphis' system, and doesn't seem to possess much of a killer instinct. Even his dunks are soft. It's still very early in Thabeet's career, and maybe he figures some of this out. It's hard to teach 7-3, and it's hard to teach wingspan, and Thabeet certainly has that.
But, short term, if I'm given the choice between Thabeet and Mahinmi next season, I'm taking Mahinmi. Both players are 22, by the way, so there is room for improvement on both sides of the equation.
Other thoughts from Game 5 ...
* James Gist had another active night, and displayed some basketball skills to go with his ever-running motor. On back-to-back possessions in the first half, Gist drove for a layup, then hit Romel Beck for a basket on a give-and-go.
* Good to see Jack McClinton turn in a nice game. The rookie shooter went 4 for 10 and scored eight points. It's still not stellar, but it was a nice rebound after going 1-for-11 in his first four games. At this point, McClinton looks like a player who could benefit from a year in the D-League or overseas.
* Shooting-wise, George Hill experienced a flashback to 2008, going 2-for-9 from the floor, including back-to-back airballs in the fourth quarter. Regardless of the numbers, however, Hill showed the Spurs brass this week what they wanted to see: Namely that he can run a team from the point guard position.
Late in the fourth quarter, Hill provided another example that, yes, he can. The ball swung to Beck in the corner, but Beck passed up the shot. "You've got to shoot that," Hill said. When Beck tried to protest, Hill persisted. "Doesn't matter," he said. "You've got to shoot that."
Of course, a couple dribbles later, Hill fired up one of his airballs. Ah well.
Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
All in all a good summer league. Hill just looked like he was just out of gas. He still had a good showing overall. Between how he, Blair, Mahinmi and Hairston played the Spurs have to be very happy with how things went. Gist and McClinton disappointed, but both should get a second chance to make a good impression at training camp.
Tough to say. I doubt it since it had been a year since anyone had seen him play.Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
Fine. How about in '08?
Hopefully, he can contribute this year. He's probably not going to improve (and the Spurs aren't going to know what they have) until he gets regular minutes in NBA games.Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
If Ian could produce well in his limited minutes, our frontcourt would be very nicely rounded.
Ian really impressed me overall. He certainly seemed to progress as the games went on. He's only 22 and he certainly looked much better than Thabeet.
After, seeing Thabeet play, I am not surprised Blair has dominated him. Again, given Thabeet was the 2nd overall pick, we have to be damn happy to have gotten Blair.
It seemed like, just like with Blair, that he didn't play much min during the week (25-28 mpg) until tonite (35 min). If he can produce sumwhere along the lines as he did this week, it would be great. The more I c him play the more I believe that it would prolly benefit the spurs to have him play on the 2nd unit with Blair along with Hill, Manu, Hairston instead of Bonner. I'd rather c Bonner like Fin play a 15-20 mpg role where they come in and provide shooting. Fellas I believe we've been watchin our 2nd Unit in action this whole summer league...
Oh God, why do you do this?Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
Blair's presence and aggressive nature are going to be an obvious benefit to Ian.
No, I am not God, though I can see how the confusion might arise.
Airball <<< a Pop asschewing or extended doghouse stay. I've a feeling Pop probably liked hearing that comment from Hill.
Pop will take an airball over the "extra pass" any day.
because he outplayed Thabeet? jesus, everyone outplayed Thabeet.Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
and no, using that logic the lottery picks would have been used for the Dante Cunninghams, Marcus Thorntons and Chase Budingers of this summer league and still for sure not for Ian.
(do we discuss every player, who ever outplayed Darko, to be a potential top 2 pick?)
Considering how weak the bigman crop was this season I think Mahinmi could have definitely been a late lottery pick in this season's draft. Maybe higher if somebody fell in love with him. Hes athletic, has obvious scoring potential and is young. In the lottery you see a lot of teams going for that home-run ball and few guys just looking for role player type contributors. Mahinmi is definitely a guy that you could look at and say, "if he fulfills his potential he could be great". If Mohammed Saer Sene can go 10 then Mahinmi could have been top 15.Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
Ian should start next to TD...
Does he have ACLs?Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
memphis has some nice guards but randolph and thabeet are going to be busts for them.
Yes, when we say lottery we mean top 14 so I say yes, that means the only guys with height taken in those spots were Griffin (20 yrs old), Thabeet (22 yrs old), Jordan Hill (21 yrs old), Tyler Hansborough (23 yrs old), and Earl Clark (21 yrs old). He already was selected in the first round with no development, I don't see how he wouldn't be a lottery pick in a draft with such weak big man prospects. At the very least Ian>>>>>>Clark. The only person as tall as or taller than Ian is Thabeet at 7'3, Griffin is 6'9, everyone else is around that height. So yes, Ian should have been a lottery pick this year, Blair should have been as well.Would Ian Mahinmi have been a lottery pick last month had he been eligible for the draft?
i think ian could have been but there are so many questions about ian that he may have been one of those players that would have dropped. but at least he is finally starting to indicate that he was worth the chance on the 1st round pick we used on him.
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